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Monday, August 7, 2017

Figured I'd get your attention with a catchy tag-line in the header. But this article isn't exactly about what you think it is.

I shall start by saying this: I, Mr. DSNG, am not Obsessed by Superman.
Yes, I'm a fan of Superman, the well-known symbol of all things good and just, created by two Jewish guys [Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster], way back in 1933. Both of those guys were in high-school at that time, and Jerry was the writer, while Joe was the artist.

Again, I am not Obsessed by Superman.
On the other hand, I have one single Superman action figure. I have one Superman t-shirt. I've probably got some Superman undies, because I don't believe in heading out and going commando everyday.
I saw the Man of Steel 2013 Movie, and every other Superman movie that has ever been released, specifically the old ones that starred Christopher Reeves, the quintessential Superman, per his persona.

Yet I am not Obsessed by Superman.... but on the other hand, this brown-haired chick is [shown on the right]... she is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe [I think it's Earth-Two], and her name is Dana Dearden; and her superhero name is "Obsession".... despite her strong persona, for some strange reason, Dana is a little-used character, who straddles the line between good and evil, per her peculiar strong [you guessed it] Obsession of Superman.

Dana is akin to the crazy knife-wielding "Yandere chick" that you see in the Japanese animes, who is totally in love with the MC [Main Character], and she is willing to kill off all of her competition; or she'll just do outlandish stuff like steal his dirty underwear, strip him naked to bathe him, and steal his personal stuff - like his toothbrush, his socks, his manly chest hair, or his wallet. She basically wants a tangible piece of him. So it's obvious that she also wants to screw his brains out, anywhere and anytime.

And since Dana is a cute horny Yandere, then that's her goal in life - to be passionately connected to the main character, until death does them part... even if she is the one that brings about that death; since in her mind, it's all good, and she believes that self-sacrifice is a part of true love.

I think Dana's first appearance as Obsession [ aka "Mrs. Superman", as she calls herself ], is back in The Adventures of Superman #538 [or just TOS #538 for short], released back 1987.
That story was written by Karl Kesel with art by Stuart Immonen.

In that issue, it is hinted that she is the ex-girlfriend of Jimmy Olsen. And she stole a pair of mystical coins, artifacts that she took from a museum, which gave her the powers of five Greek gods, thus making her rather "Super".
So Obsession has these powers: 1. Strength of Hercules, 2. Speed of Mercury, 3. Flight of Mercury, 4. Sight of Heimdall, 5. Power of Zeus.
All of that should make her a certified bad-ass, but she just isn't used very well in the DC Comics storylines.
Nevertheless, in that tale, she kidnaps Jimmy [who now works as a News Anchor with a hot blonde named Cat]. And Dana forces Jimmy to help her summon Superman, through some sort of special watch that emits a resonating frequency that only Supes can hear. Clark Kent currently gets promoted to be the Senior Managing Editor of the Daily Planet Newspaper Company, which has been bought out by the National Whisperer, to bail them out of some financial trouble [ahhhh, the drama of bankruptcy, even in comics]. But Clark soon hears the special watch's echoing signal at night... so he has to change and fly away from his new office. And when Superman shows up at the summoning venue, he doesn't find Jimmy... instead he finds out that he has a new sexy female super-admirer.Therefore, Dana is Obsessed with Superman.

She clearly has to be; since in this comic, she collects Superman action figures, newspaper articles, large posters, and other stuff that has been littered across the city, which previously belonged to him in some way, shape or form."I love you Kal'El, I want to be there for you every day and every NIGHT."

Those were Dana's exact words, in the comic; that was right before before Superman extends his hand, gently lifts her into the air, and embraces her tightly, and with his next words.... he blatantly dumps her. So as expected, Dana goes bat-shit-crazy and kicks his ass in mid-air.

The night-time aerial battle crashed Superman down and into an oil tanker, which was straddled out at sea. And the large ship gets heavily damaged, so it starts burning and sinking. Superman leaves the airborne fight to help the stranded sailors. And after a while, Obsession dives in and she willfully starts helping him to save the people from the burning large oil-bearing ship. Finally it seems like all the sailors have been rescued and placed in a small escape-boat, but there may be at least one soldier left behind in a buried cabin of the sinking ship. So while she tells Superman to carry the sailors in the small boat / side-raft all the way to the shore, Obsession goes back to the ship to rescue any stranded people still locked deep inside it's hull.

And while Superman flies away, he is stunned by what he overhears; and he doesn't look back, as the ship goes BOOM!! The oil tanker explodes, with Obsession still trapped inside it!
Of course Superman is heartbroken, and it seems he has lost Obsession, and Lois Lane [who was already gone / lost in the storyline, for some strange reason]. Some other redheaded gal named Lori even shows up at the end of the comic to chat with Clark, in the busy streets of Metropolis at night. Lori seems to know Clark's identity, and Superman refuses to go out on casual late-night date with her, since he tells her that he needs some time to think things over and heal. And he walks away into the night, leaving Lori sad, because she sincerely wanted to comfort him.
[ Sniff.... Awwwww, poor Supes... he definitely didn't get laid! :D ]

[You may need to click the words "Read More" slightly below and on the right, to see the rest of this long article]

A New Appearance for An Old Super-gal!

Anyway, after being absent for over 35 issues from the TOS book [that over a 3-year hiatus, people!!! How the hell did she survive the Huge KABOOM!!?? What the hell was she doing? And who the hell was she screwing for all that time to keep her busy?], and now Obsession shows up again, without any injuries, and with a new fancy supergirl-esque costume in The Adventures of Superman #574, released back in the year 2000. Check out her new costume on the left. The art was by Joe Phillips, while Mark Miller was the writer [and Stuart Immonen helped to plot the storyline].

She's put on a few pounds, thus making her look bustier than before. Plus she strangely got shorter.... and now she has another round at convincing Kal'El that he is her true super-soulmate, since she's calling herself "Mrs. Superman" all over again.

Of course Superman refuses her offer for torrid passion or matrimonial bliss. And he wont even accept her latest phone number or her fav e-mail address. So obviously Dana is pissed off. And now they fight in the sky and he flees from her, while she's firing electrically-charged eye-beams and hand-beams at him.

But suddenly there is an emergency in the city, and some people are taking demon-pills that turn them into rampaging monsters that aren't half as strong as Bane. Personally I thought that the morphed monsters looked like rejects from the acclaimed Disney Gargoyles cartoon... but hey, I digress.

Superman soon talks Obsession into joining forces with him, and she actually agrees to help him defeat the morphed bad guys. So they head to a building that looks like a warehouse / storage facility.

And Dana ends up risking her life to save Superman: she dives in front of him, taking a huge mystical blast from a dying monster that was destined to destroy him. And the heavy blast seems to fatally wound her, thus forcing her to crash to the floor. And as Dana is dying, she claims that she cared so much for him, and she knew that Superman was not impervious to magic, therefore she didn't want him to get struck and perish.

Damn.... she actually gave up her life for him.... and after that, she is not shown anymore in the last few pages of the TOS#574 comic, thus hinting that she was sent to an early grave.
Well... that just sucks, because I actually really liked her new costume. It was fresh and cool to me, although it was simplistic, in comparison to the costume of someone like Yatalia from my DSNG Sci Fi Series. And Dana's fancy red-and-blue costume was better than the costume of Super-girl from the New 52. The archived blog article with pics of that costume is over HERE.

But since Dana is a DC Comics "B-class Category" character, you know that this statement is true: SHE CAME BACK IN THE FUTURE, in another comic issue that I don't have time to talk about.

In conclusion, I leave you with this thought... is dying for someone else an act of true love, or is it merely.... an extreme obsession?